T41 Intel Pro/Wireless 2100

IPCONFIG reports that our T41 machine's wireless adapters are disconnected. Yet, the Intel Pro/wireless 2100 detects networks but fails to communicate and receive IP addresses. Intel reports no longer supporting the cards or providing driver updates, which implicates either a WINXP update or an update to our wireless network. Are there any Intel Pro/wireless 2100 drivers and/or WINXP communiations updates/patches that will permit the T41 to communicate and receive an IP address from the newer faster networks?

Re: T41 Intel Pro/Wireless 2100

Thank you George. I need to get 25 T41's back in wireless service and keep them going for as long as possible. From your experience which card would you use to provide the longest life expectancy with WINXP (and it's end of life in 2014) and a FIOS wireless router and which source?

Please note that after downloading and extracting the driver, you'll most likely have to go into C>Drivers>Win>Wlanath and run the setup file from there.

One more thing: Atheros-chipped cards, like this one, identify themselves as "ethernet controllers" and not "network controllers" like the rest of them - so you don't get confused when XP lets you know that you have another ethernet controller...you don't.

Good luck.

Cheers,

George

In daily use: R60F, R500F, T61, T410

Collecting dust: T60

Enjoying retirement: A31p, T42p,

Non-ThinkPads: Panasonic CF-31 & CF-52, HP 8760W

Starting Thursday, 08/14/2014 I'll be away from the forums until further notice. Please do NOT send private messages since I won't be able to read them. Thank you..

Re: T41 Intel Pro/Wireless 2100

I've got some well kept ThinkPads that are doing what they were intended, no extra fancy fast stuff required. They are already on their second lives and I expect, and will nurse them (with a lot of help from friends and experts), to outlast XP and Lenovo support. (Planned obsolescene and the scrap heap to the contrary!) By the way, I expect my cars to do a minimum of 10 years, with a few unwanted dents and scratches.

Re: T41 Intel Pro/Wireless 2100

Sometimes it is able to log on to wireless networks, sometimes not. When I can't log on, I get an Acquiring IP address endless loop.

When it is not able to acquire an IP address, I also get the following message when I run ipconfig from the command line:

Windows IP Configuration

An internal error occurred: A device attached to the system is not functioning.

Please contact Microsoft Product Support Services for further help.

Additional information: Unknown media status code.

I I have a Cisco Systems PCI Wireless LAN Adapter, driver version 3.8.26.0 dated 04/05/2004. The Cisco is being used to connect to the network where I have the "acquiring ip address" problem currently (although this problem occurs on a number of different networks).

I also have an INTEL(R) Pro/1000 MT mobile connection, driver version 8.10.3.0 dated 20/08/2008.

The laptop connects fine using an Ethernet cable direct to the wireless router.

I have tried uninstalling both network connectors and restarting. Occasionally this works, mostly it doesn't.

The problem started when I installed Windows XP SP3. Prior to that, under SP2, no problems. I've read a bit on the forums that there seem to be problems with wi-fi connections on T41s and T42s under SP3. I can't roll back as I need SP3 to run Excel 2010.

I bought a Phillips network card but I'm not confident about installing it so don't want to go with this option.

I'd be happy to buy a reliable PCMCIA wireless adapter card, if anyone can recommend one and there is no other way to fix the problem.